He turned and picked up the bowl of red stained water Holly had been using to clean Maggie and headed through the living room to dump it in the sink in the bathroom. I turned back toward the window to think. My thoughts were interrupted a few seconds later by a crash and the sound of water sloshing everywhere.

Turning around I saw Gavin on his knees in the living room in front of the TV, his hands covering his mouth. I ran to him, almost slipping on the wet floor as I did, and kneeled down to see if he was ok. He looked like he’d seen a ghost.

“Gavin?”

“I didn’t know she had a son,” was all he said.

“What?”

He pointed at the TV, staring in silence. A picture of a beautiful young woman who would have been about eighteen or nineteen filled the screen. The picture was old, probably taken in the mid-eighties. When the photograph faded away a young man took its place.

“It’s been twenty five years since my mother disappeared. We are hoping by putting her picture out there that someone who may have seen something will come forward. She left her job at the coffee shop at about eleven pm and was never seen again. I grew up not knowing if my mother was alive or dead. If she’s alive I want to find her. If not…I’d like to give her the proper burial she deserves.” The rims of his eyes turned red and the camera cut back to the anchor. Gavin’s eyes were red now also.

“Gavin, do you know that woman?” For a long moment he didn’t say anything.

“I did.”

“How?”

“I’m the reason she never came home. I didn’t know she had a son. She never told me that.” He turned to me with tears spilling out of his eyes. His hands shook and he wrung them together as he relived the event in his mind. “I’ve done horrible things, Rachel.”

I took his face in my hands and tried to wipe away his tears but they just kept coming.

“I’m sure it was an accident,” I said. I knew firsthand what it was like to have your vampire instinct take over. I had completely drained the first victim I fed from before I even knew what I was doing.

“You don’t know what I’m capable of,” he choked out, his voice breaking under the weight of his newly exhumed grief. “I’m a monster.”

“Don’t say that. You’re not.”

“I ruined so many lives.”

“Gavin that was a long time ago.”

“What does it matter how long ago it was? That kid grew up without a mother. So many people have suffered because of me.” Suddenly he sprang up from the floor and ran for the door. “I have to get out of here,” he said.